The Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) started as an initative led by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to establish a unified, device-independent system for managing color throughout motion picture production. It has found usage in motion pictures, television, animation, VFX, gaming, immersive media, and related fields. The project’s mission is to enable predictable, high-quality color reproduction across diverse workflows and technologies, preserving creative intent while supporting interoperability, archival needs, and future innovation.

The Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) aims to provide a standardized, device-independent, and future-proof system for managing color throughout a production pipeline.

ACES aims to:

• define and maintain open, standardized encodings and transforms for color management
• provide a robust framework to support production, post-production, distribution, and archiving
• ensure compatibility with emerging imaging technologies, including high dynamic range and wide color gamut
• enable consistent color reproduction from image capture through editing, VFX, grading, mastering, and archiving, regardless of hardware or workflow
• support long-term archiving of motion picture assets in a format that can be faithfully re-rendered on future display technologies
• promote wide industry adoption
• foster a healthy and active community

This repository provides a structured and organized way to track and manage different versions of ACES, along with their associated modular components, which are separated into subrepositories:

• aces-core:
  • contains the maths and algorithms that are at the core of the ACES rendering transforms
• aces-amf:
  • holds the XSD schema and example files for ACES Metadata File (AMF)
• aces-input-and-colorspaces:
  • contains color space definitions and the conversions between them, i.e. to/from ACES2065-1
• aces-output:
  • transforms with parameters preset to correspond with characteristics of standard or common display configurations
• aces-look:
  • contains any transforms that serve to modify the default appearance of images through an ACES pipeline

ACES uses semantic versioning. The version number of ACES reflects changes to the ACES core algorithms.

• MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH: Reflects changes to the core ACES algorithms.

A build number denotes the specific collection of modular components (e.g., Input and Color Space Transforms, Output Transforms, etc.) in date format.

• Build Number: Identifies the specific collection of modular components from the submodules - formatted as +YYYY.MM.DD

The modular components of ACES can be updated at any time by the ACES team or by end users. These components do not affect the core functionality of ACES, which is why they are not included in the MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH version number.

• Website: https://acescentral.com
  • Documentation: https://docs.acescentral.com
  • Forum: https://community.acescentral.com
• Slack workspace: https://aswf.slack.com
  • New users can join via http://slack.aswf.io

ACES depends on community participation. Developers, manufacturers, and end users are encouraged to contribute code, bug fixes, documentation, and other technical artifacts.

All contributors must have a signed Contributor License Agreement (CLA) on file to ensure that the project can freely use your contributions.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for more details.

ACES is a project hosted by the Academy Software Foundation.

See GOVERNANCE.md for details about how the project operates.

To report a problem, please open an issue.

• Whenever possible, issues specific to a particular transform or component should be filed using the issue tracker of its containing repository.
• General issues can be filed in this repository's issue tracker.
• For sensitive or security-related issues, do not use the public issue tracker. Instead, refer to SECURITY.md for details on the project's security policy.

The ACES Project is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license.